Allergic diseases such as food allergy, asthma or atopic dermatitis occur when immune tolerance fails to develop to normally innocuous antigens in our environment. Investigators at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai are working to develop new therapeutic strategies to re-educate the immune system to establish immune tolerance.

A major disease focus is food allergy. Investigators in the PrIISM Institute work closely with physicians in the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute, and have access to unique patient cohorts enrolled in cutting-edge clinical trials of immunotherapy for food allergy. We study immune mechanisms of tolerance development and develop and apply novel technologies for diagnosis and to inform personalized medicine approaches for the treatment of food allergy. Scientists in the PrIISM institute are also performing studies to understand the cellular and molecular underpinnings of allergy and immune tolerance, with the goal of developing next-generation immunotherapies that will lead to a cure.

Allergic diseases begin in early life and progress from atopic dermatitis to food allergy to allergic rhinitis and asthma. Prevention of allergic disease is a key goal for researchers working in PrIISM and we are particularly focused on early life events that shape the developing immune system. On the other end of the age spectrum, scientists are studying how allergic responses in the elderly contribute to asthma pathogenesis. For a description of ongoing research on atopic dermatitis, go here.

Investigators with a major focus in allergy include: Charlotte Cunningham-Rundles, Hugh A. Sampson, Maria Curotto de Lafaille, Eric Wambre